C-hook leveling device for billet handling

ABSTRACT

A winch for supporting blooms, billets, rod, pipe, and other elongated product on a C-hook assembly that includes a spreader beam, the spreader beam being suspended from the winch by a pair of cables connected to opposite ends of the spreader beam, and the winch being operable to inversely change the lengths of the suspension cables and thus move the C-hook assembly to a horizontal position when an unbalanced load of elongated product is supported thereon. A second cable restrains tilting movement of the C-hook assembly about a longitudinal axis extending through the points at which the suspension cables are connected to the spreader beam, the second cable having a turnbuckle for adjusting its length, and being trained over a sheave rotatably supported on a housing for the winch with its axis parallel to the winch axis.

United States Patent Yu [151 3,663,051 [4 1 May 16, 1972 [54] C-HOOK LEVELING DEVICE FOR BILLET HANDLING [72] Inventor: Quin Shen Yu, Forest Hills Borough, Pa. [73] Assignee: United States Steel Corporation [22] Filed: Oct. 14, I970 [21 I Appl. No.: 80,542

FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 949,522 8/1956 Germany ..294/67 A Primary Examiner-Evon C. Blunk Assistant Examiner-Johnny D. Cherry Attorney-Donald S. Ferito [5 7] ABSTRACT A winch for supporting blooms, billets, rod, pipe, and other elongated product on a C-hook assembly that includes a spreader beam, the spreader beam being suspended from the winch by a pair of cables connected to opposite ends of the spreader beam, and the winch being operable to inversely change the lengths of the suspension cables and thus move the C hook assembly to a horizontal position whenan unbalanced load of elongated product is supported thereon. A second cable restrains tilting movement of the C-hook assembly about a longitudinal axis extending through the points at which the suspension cables are connected to the spreader beam, the second cable havinga turnbuckle for adjusting its length, and being trained over a sheave rotatably supported on a housing for the winch with its axis parallel to the winch axis.

3 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PATENTEDMAY 16 m2 3, 663 .051

sum 1 [1F 3 OU/N SHEN YU PATENTEDMAY 16 1912 SHEET 3 BF 3 INVENTOR. QUIN SHE/V YU C-HOOK LEVELING DEVICE FOR BILLET HANDLING This invention relates to a C-hook assembly for suspending elongated product, such as blooms, billets, bars and the like, from the hoist-hook of a mill crane and, more particularly, to a leveling suspension for moving the C-hook assembly and product carried thereby to a horizontal position when such product is not centrally balanced on the C-hook assembly. In a manner to be described, the leveling suspension comprises a winch which is operable to inversely change the lengths of the suspension cables and to thus move the C-hook assembly supported thereby to a position in which the product thereon is arranged in a horizontal plane. i

In steel operations, elongated product, such as blooms and billets, are commonly stored in a stockyard on parallel skids, a mill crane being employed to transfer the product to and from the stockyard. Transfer of the product in this manner is commonly effected by a C-hook assembly which is suspended by cables from the overhead book of a hoist on the mill crane. Unless the product is accurately centered thereon, the C-hook assembly will tilt out of a horizontal position, thus making transfer of the product by the mill crane both difficult and dangerous.

One of the principal objects of this invention, accordingly, is to provide an improved suspension for elongated mill product on a crane hoist, which can be operated to hold unbalanced loads of such product in a horizontal position. To this end, the suspension of this invention comprises a winch for suspending the product from the overhead hoist-hook of the mill crane.- In a manner to be described, the winch is operable to inversely adjust the lengths of suspending cables to move unbalanced loads of elongated product to a horizontal position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following description.

In the drawings, there is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention. In this showing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view illustrating the manner in which a C-hook assembly is suspended from the overhead hook of a mill crane hoist in accordance with the principles of this invention;

FIG. 2 isa plan view of the C-hook assembly shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the assembly which shows the manner in which elongated product is supported thereon;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the winch shown in FIG. 1, the bail at the top thereof being removed to show the cable reeling mechanism in the interior thereof;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line V-V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially along the line VI-VI of FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view which illustrates diagrammatically an alternative arrangement for reeling the suspending cable on the winch drum.

The manner in which blooms or billets B are stored on skids S in a steel mill stockyard for handling by a C-hook assembly CA which is suspended from the overhead hook H of a mill crane hoist is shown in FIG. I of the drawings. In this showing, the skids S support the billets B at an elevated position to provide space for the arms of the C-hook assembly CA. Although the apparatus of this invention is especially adapted for handling blooms or billets B, it will be understood that it may be used for handling other steel-mill elongated product such as rods, bars, pipe, and the like.

The assembly CA comprises a plurality of C-hooks 1 of essentially conventional shape and construction, which are mounted in laterally-spaced positions, and have lower lift arms 2 with upwardly facing surfaces 3 on which the product B is supported during transportation ,by the mill crane. The hooks I are secured to a transversely-extending spreader beam 4 by plates 5 that are bolted to opposite sides of the upper arms 6 of the C-hooks l, the plates 5 having notches or openings 7 therein in which the spreader beam 4 is received, the beam 4 being secured to the plates 5 by welding. The assembly is reinforced by transversely-extending beams 8 and 9 that are rigidly secured to opposite ends of the arms 6, the beam 8 being in the form of a pair of angles and the beam 9 being a channel.

The assembly CA is suspended from the crane hoist-hook H by a pair of cables 10 and 11 and a winch W, which includes a cover C that forms a bail for suspension on the hook H in a manner to be described. The suspension cables 10 and 11 are shown diagrammatically by broken lines in the drawings and are provided with connections (not shown) at their lower ends as viewed in FIG. I to anchoring lugs 12 at opposite ends of the spreader beam 4. The upper ends of the cables 10 and II are connected to the winch W in a manner and for a purpose to be described.

As best shown in FIGS. 4-6, the assembly CA comprises a drum 14 that is rotatably supported in a housing 15 that is formed by parallel side plates 16 which are held in spaced relation by transversely-extending straps l7 and 18, the ends of which are secured by welding thereto. The drum 14 comprises axially-spaced end plates 19 which support a cylinder 20 on which the cables 10 and 11 are reeled in a manner to be described. The end plates 19 are secured to a hollow shaft 21 that is connected by a key 22 with a shaft 23 which is supported by bearings 24 at its ends for rotation on the housing plates 16. The hollow shaft 21, and thereby the drum 14, are driven by a worm gear 25, which is secured by bolts 26 in driving relation with the hollow shaft 21 and has meshing engage ment with a worm pinion 27. The pinion 27 is keyed to a drive shaft 28 that is rotatably supported by bearings 29 in brackets 30 on one of the housing end plates 16. The shaft 28 is driven through a flexible coupling 31 by a gear reducing unit 32 that is operated by a reversible electric motor 33, which is under the control of an operator in the cab of the mill crane.

The cover C comprises a plurality of tubes 34 respectively mounted on bolts 35 supported on the housing end walls 16. The tubes 34 support a pair of laterally-spaced plates 36, which in turn support a transversely-extending pin 37 that provides a bail for engagement with the hook H of the crane hoist. Gussets 38 and 39 are welded to each of the tubes 34 and to the plates 36 to reinforce the mounting of the bail plates 36 on the tubes 34. The upper ends 40 and 4] of the suspending cables l0 and 11 are trained over the winch drum 20 and have their respective terminals anchored thereto at the points 43 adjacent the bottom of the drum as viewed in FIG. 5. The cables l0 and 11 are preferably double cables as shown in FIG. 4. Although the cables 10 and 11 are preferably separate as will be apparent from the showing of FIG. 4, a single continuous cable having its center portion trained over the drum 20, as shown diagrammatically in FIG. 7, may be employed in place of the preferred arrangement using dual separate cables 10 and 1 1.

In operation, rotation of the drum 20 by the electric motor 33 will operate to inversely change the effective lengths of cables 10 and 11, between their points of connection with the anchoring lugs 12, and their points of engagement with the reeling drum 20. In other words, rotation of the drum 20 will .operate to lengthen one of the cables 10 and I l and to shorten the other of such cables. The electric motor 33 is reversible to provide for selective rotation of the drum 20 in opposite directions.

By reason of the arrangement of the cables 10 and 11 and the reversing drive for the winch drum 20, it will be apparent that the effective lengths of the suspension cables 10 nd 11 may be changed in inverse directions to maintain the C-hooks assembly in a horizontal position. As a consequence, it will be further apparent that when an unbalanced load of elongated product B is supported on the lower arms 2 of the C-hooks, in a manner which would otherwise result in the movement of the C-hook assembly CA to a tilted position, the motor 33 may be operated to change the lengths of the suspension cables 10 and 11 to level the positions of the C-hooks 1, and to return their product supporting arms 2 to positions in which their respective supporting surfaces 3 are in a common horizontal plane.

The apparatus of the invention as described above provides for adjusting tilting movement of the assembly CA about a transverse axis which is parallel to the axis of the winch drum 20. In addition to this adjustment, a second cable 45 is provided for holding the assembly CA against tilting movement about a longitudinal axis extending between the anchoring lugs 12, and for adjusting the position of the assembly CA with respect to this axis. For this purpose, the center portion of the cable 45 is trained over a sheave 46, which is rotatably supported on a pin 47 mounted on one of the housing end walls 16 in a position with its axis parallel to the axis of the winch drum 20. The terminals 48 of the cable 45 are anchored to lugs 49 mounted on the beam 8 in spaced positions as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 of the drawings. Adjacent at least one of its anchoring connections with the lugs 49, the cable 45 is provided with a turnbuckle 50 which may be operated to regulate the effective length of such cable and to thereby tilt the C- hooks l to positions in which their respective surfaces 3 are horizontal. When a load of elongated product B is subsequently supported on the arms 2 of the C-hooks, the cable 45 will operate to prevent tilting movement of the C-hooks in a counter-clockwise direction about the longitudinal axis of the assembly CA as viewed in FIG. 3 of the drawings.

While one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent that adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

lclaim:

1. Apparatus for suspending elongated product in a horizontal position from the overhead hook of a crane hoist comprising a bail for connection with said hook, a winch carried by said bail, a frame on which said elongated product is supported, a pair of cables suspending said frame from said winch, said winch comprising a housing, a drum on which said cables are reeled, and means mounting said drum for rotation on said housing about an axis extending transversely of the longitudinal axis of said frame, said winch being operable to change the respective lengths of said cables in opposite directions and to thereby move said frame to a horizontal position when unbalanced loads of elongated product are supported thereon, anchoring connections at opposite ends of said frame for the terminals of said cables, said cables respectively extending tangentially from said drum to said anchoring connections, and means for holding said frame against tilting movement about a longitudinal axis extending through said anchoring connections, said last-named means comprising a sheave mounted on said housing for rotation about an axis parallel to said drum axis, and a second cable having its central portion trained over said sheave and its end anchored to said frame at points along a line spaced laterally from and parallel to said longitudinal axis.

2. The invention defined in claim 1 characterized by means for adjusting the effective length of said second cable to thereby adjust the angular position of said frame with respect to its said longitudinal axis.

3. The invention defined in claim 1 characterized by said adjusting means comprising a turnbuckle. 

1. Apparatus for suspending elongated product in a horizontal position from the overhead hook of a crane hoist comprising a bail for connection with said hook, a winch carried by said bail, a frame on which said elongated product is supported, a pair of cables suspending said frame from said winch, said winch comprising a housing, a drum on which said cables are reeled, and means mounting said drum for rotation on said housing about an axis extending transversely of the longitudinal axis of said frame, said winch being operable to change the respective lengths of said cables in opposite directions and to thereby move said frame to a horizontal position when unbalanced loads of elongated product are supporteD thereon, anchoring connections at opposite ends of said frame for the terminals of said cables, said cables respectively extending tangentially from said drum to said anchoring connections, and means for holding said frame against tilting movement about a longitudinal axis extending through said anchoring connections, said last-named means comprising a sheave mounted on said housing for rotation about an axis parallel to said drum axis, and a second cable having its central portion trained over said sheave and its end anchored to said frame at points along a line spaced laterally from and parallel to said longitudinal axis.
 2. The invention defined in claim 1 characterized by means for adjusting the effective length of said second cable to thereby adjust the angular position of said frame with respect to its said longitudinal axis.
 3. The invention defined in claim 1 characterized by said adjusting means comprising a turnbuckle. 